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22.9.13

Milky Caps in Vinegar ‒ Etikkarouskut

Yesterday I went mushroom hunting and got my backpack so full you'll be getting a fair share of mushroom recipes too. I picked one bag of yellowfoot, one of sheep polypode and one of rufous milk cap.

Rufous milk caps are a very common milk cap variety. In countries where it's not habitual to parboil mushrooms they're considered inedible, sometimes even poisonous. Technically speaking they are indeed slightly mutagenic but you wouldn't eat them raw anyway because of the burning peppery taste. For many Finnish mushroom hunters they're one of the favourite species, especially appropriate for preservation and to be used in basic mushroom salad. Even Finnish officials notorious for excessive cautiousness when it comes to food or medicine consider them perfectly safe. Then again, mycologist David Arora speculates there may be some differences
of edibility between European and North American varieties. I wouldn't know anything about that but this basic method fits perfectly well for any milk caps, as well as most other mushrooms you'd like to preserve.

If your milk caps are large, cut them a bit smaller. In case they need parboiling, boil them in plenty of water for about ten minutes and rinse well.

Measure all the ingredients into a pot. Bring to a boil and then pour into a clean and preferably sterilized glass jar. The liquid amount here should be enough for parboiled milk caps but in case your mushrooms need more to cover them, just add vinegar, water and sugar all in equal amounts. I used a jar too big so it'll be easy to add more mushrooms since this is a species I can be quite certain I'll be finding all autumn.

Preserve in cool temperature. The mushrooms should be ready to eat within a few days and store well until the next autumn. They're especially great in salads or as an accompaniment on the plate. The broth brings taste into soups and sauces too.